Women's double workshift:
In both cases the bosses' profits depend on a largely female workforce, occupying jobs (often on a changing patterns in women's employment production line) which men do not want. In the service sector where there has been a net increase in jobs in the last ten years, it is above all, female jobs which have increased. Depending on the country, between 60% and 85% of female labour is employed in
IS IT NORMAL for women to work? In reality, of course, women have always worked - cooking, cleaning, looking after the house, the children; once it was home-canning, now its the supermarket;
we could go on and on. But there is work - and work. There is paid work and unpaid work. There are hidden domestic tasks and "noble"
occupations.
The question is, is the woman at the kitchen sink a thing of the past? Of course the industrial revolution brought about a fantastic change in women's lives; it threw them out onto the job market.
For more than a century, they have been shoved in and out of the market according to the economic situation and theruling classes' needs. Today they are there to stay: this is historical fact, there is no getting around it. But what work are they doing? And for what price? And above all, what are they doing besides? Have women really taken away "men's jobs'? Does going out to work really mean equality?
The following article tries to take account of developments in
Europe in the last ten or 20 years, according to the figures available and to assess the real situation of women as workers and as wives and mothers in the home.
JACQUELINE HEINEN
The current economic crisis has hit hardest at the most vulnerable sections of the working class: women, young people and immigrants, within that, young women and immigrant women suffer particularly.
Inside each social group women are the first hit because of between work outside the home and the roles of wife and mother. Of course, more and more women are economically active, but at the same time they are expected to carry on with all the domestic tasks and look after the children.
The bourgeoisie's drive to increase profits at the moment goes hand in hand with a policy of austerity which hits hardest at those who are least able to resist because of their place in the job market and because of the reluctance, not to say refusal, of the workers' movement to defend their specific interests. The bosses understand very well that, in order to carry out their goal of dismantling the main gains of the working class since the
Second World War, they must first
International Viewpoint 10 March 1986;
take on those sections which will be accorded the least support. They have already had some success in this regard, with the introduction of "flexible" worktime and part-time work as well as with the first victories in challenging the social gains. Cutbacks in areas such as nurseries and school canteens have hit women particularly hard since they are both the users and the workers in such areas. Rebuilding the reserve army
The attempts of the bourgeoisie to trap women in the ghetto of unsteady employment (and perhaps the dream of some to rebuild the reserve army of labour traditionally provided by women, who with broom in hand, wait to be called out to work) have come up against a few obstacles, the structure of the
Job segregation in industrial production means that there are certain both the public and private sectors of the services industry.
Some branches of public sector services (health, education, social services, administration) are completely dominated by women. And, more generally as well, certain jobs (secretaries, accounts clerks, waitresses) are overwhelmingly held by women, and here again men are not queuing up to take their place.
The bourgeoisie's project is not, therefore, to send women back to the home, as was the case immediately following the First and Second World Wars. It has no interest in so doing and it would be materially impossible. What the bourgeoisie wants is to restrict women to unsteady employment ir order to undermine their capacity to resist. It wants them to internalise the idea that they are not really workers, when in fact women's work is essential to the economy. The figures are there to show the massive changes — and also the opposition to change - which have affected women's role in the family and in society as a whole. (1) They vary from one country to another, but it is noticeable that they all demonstrate the same basic tendency. Getting out of the house
In capitalist countries, since the 1950s, the proportion of women in the workforce as a whole has continued to increase. It has now reached about 40% in most countries in Europe, exceeding 45% in the northern part (Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Norway). Even where these figures are substantially lower, as in the Netherlands and Italy, the tendency to increase is still very much in evidence. In most industrialised
1. For statistical analysis see especially: L. Paukert, L'emploi et le chomage des femmes dans les pays d' OCED'; 'L'integration des femmes dans l'economie, ed. OECD; Emploi et chomage," EURO. STAT, Luxembourg; N. Corvi and MM Salort, "Les femmes et le marche de travail', Hatier, Paris, 1985; Frauen in der BRD, ed. VSA, Hambourg, 1983; •Working women and the labour market,' ed. RKP, London, 1982; Women, recession and the Tories, ' Jean Gardiner, ed.
11
countries at least half the female population do go out to work and, where part-time work is highly developed, more than 75% of women are economically active (the average among men is between 80% and 85% in Europe. It is important to note that it is above all the massive entry of married women and mothers onto the job market which has changed the curve of economic activity of the female workforce dramatically in the last two decades. On average about 60% of married women in Europe are economically active about twice the number as in the 1950s), and this proportion goes beyond 70% in countries like Belgium. In Sweden more than 80% of mothers with children under seven years old were in waged work in 1985. Most of these studies are based on statistics which show that, in the very near future, one worker in two will be a woman.
This increase in women's economic activity is accompanied by changes in their professional outlook. In the past, the maximum rate of economic activity was to be found amongst very young women and women over 45 years old, with a clear decrease among those of child-bearing age, whereas nowadays the curve of activity increases in a linear way and resembles more and more that of men.
This development goes hand in hand with the drop in the fertility rate which is alarming so many bourgeois observers. The era of the large family has certainly passed. Throughout Europe a one- or two-child family striking example is in the Spanish the rate of activity of women has increased even if it is still lower than other countries (31% of the active population in 1985) and where the fertility rate went from children per woman in 1977
In the field of education women's position has been greatly strengthened and girls are now more numerous than boys in the first and second years in secondary school. Women represent more than half the new going to university. For every unemployed man there are one and a half unemployed women
If we want to take account of the real situation of women workers, all of these statistics must be modified in some way. For example, under the impact of the economic crisis, female unemployment has increased at a much faster rate that that of men in most cases. In most European countries the proportion of women 12 out of work is more than 20% of all the economically active (and not far off 30% in the Spanish state). This figure is at times more than twice the rate for men, as is the case in Austria or Portugal. To this has to be added the fact that the official figures do not give the exact number of workers looking for work, because after a certain time many give up looking, stop register and disappear from the statisties. This is particularly the case with women who are more pressurised to go back into the family and take up domestic tasks. In Great Britain it is estimated that 28% of all unemployed women and 43% of all those who are married do not register at employment offices (compared to only 11% of men). There is, of course, a direct relationship between this attitude and the duration of unemployment - which is always on the increase and is much larger among women than among men. In Belgium it is nearly twice as long and women between the ages of 26 and 36 suffer an average of 41 months without work as against 24 for men of the same age. That is three and a half years on average of living from day to day, waiting and looking.
Among mothers and single mothers in particular these difficulties are aggravated by reduced mobility, since women are more reluctant to accept a job away from home because of problems of childcare. The idea of moving to another town is, according to a survey conducted in France, an option which is only open to men; women just follow their husbands. (2)
As for the perspectives for the future, they are not exactly rosy! In the female-dominated branches in dustry, great as the number of redundancies are now, the generalised introduction of computerisation in the service sector will eventually bring redundancies as well. It is true though, that the predictions in this regard have yet to be confirmed. (3) Increased productivity resulting from the introduction of new technology has
2. D Kergoat, 'Les femmes et le travail et temps partiel,' ed. de la Documentation Francaise, Paris Travail 1984 See also A-M. Daune-Richard, professionnel et travail domestique, ed. CEFUP, Paris, 1984.
3 S. Nora and A. Minc, 'L'informo tisation de la societe, ' ed. de la Documenta tion Francaise, Paris, 1978. International Viewpoint 10 March 1986
often allowed the company concerned to offer new services occasioned by new needs. But the depth and the durability of the crisis puts an objective limit on the opening up of new areas and the creation of new jobs. Moreover, because the cost of office computers has dropped radically in the last few years, they are becoming more available even in small firms (of one to five employees) where a majority of women work as typists, cashiers, etc. and are the first to go as a result of computerisation. One British study estimates that the introduction of microelectronics will involve the suppression of 17% of secretaries posts between now and 1990. Half time means half wages
The second major factor which has to be taken into account in order to appreciate women's economic activity, is the part-time work which affects half of the new jobs created in the last and half the at work in itself is almost in essence female: part-time workers of cases in Denmark The implications of this are: less skilled work, in general excluresponsibility; a decrease contracts; irregular hours like those of shop assistants who work a morning wages reduced to a quarter, a third statistics have to be handled with great
Because in fact here we talking about the hourly wage rate and about the overall wage. Leaving the obvious effect of part-time work on the monthly salary, it has to be stressed that, even for women who are working full time, the gap between the official statisties and the reality is widening all the time if you take account of the fact that women work less hours (that is less overtime and with more absences because of family responsibility) and that they less in bonuses etc.
When all these handicaps are added together it is hardly surprising if, among the five million people living on the poverty line in West Germany for example, the vast majority are
Immigrant women are impoverished and older women without any reserves are forced to live on social security; but there are also young women workers without a job, mothers of young children, who get nothing. A common factor behind these various aspects of the unequal status of women workers is job
It is a fact: in the vast majority of cases, women do not do the same work as men. They are in different jobs, they receive different training do not have the same qualifications. In Sweden, nearly half of all working women are employed in the five main "female" areas and more secretaries, ancillary and child minders. Contrary to what might have been expected ten years ago, the increase in the number of women who are economically active has not undermined this segregation but has encouraged it. It is often sharper among young women, as is shown in West Germany.
The introduction of the new technology has so far helped to increase this tendency. In Europe only 10% to 25% of women are to be found in the higher-level courses linked to employment in computer science. On amongst the typists whose nerves and eyes are ruined by repetitive work. Although new technology could bring more interesting work, with greater variety and development of skills, it is most often introduced without disturbing the traditional organisation and hierarchy where women are at the the scale. In fact the generalised introduction of computerisation in the service industries has gone hand in hand with new forms of work in the home using screenbased machines and aimed to attract mothers with small children. This is truly unsteady employment: less well-paid than working for an agency, subject to restricted hours determined by a central computer, let alone the isolation and the physical suffering.
In industry, women are more often "semi-skilled workers" than are male workers. They work on the production line, doing piece work and repeating the same operation all day long - 16,000 buttons a day passing through their hands in a textile firm or whatever. Table 1 showing the situation in France
Source: "Les Ouvrieres", Le Sycomore, Paris, 1982 or a half. The bosses know what they are doing: within one branch or one firm hourly rates for the same work are nearly always lower for part-time workers. Most surveys show that, contrary to what happened in the 1970s, when a large majority of women stated that they had chosen to work these hours, the majority of them now say that they accept the absence of anything
Conclusion: the apparent increase in the female rate of economic activity is much less spectacular than it seems at first glance and a long way from achieving economic independence for women.
The statistics show that female wages are 20% to 35% lower than men's, despite the International Labour Organisation (ILO) convention No. 100 which was adopted by most countries and never adhered to. Despite, also, specific legislation like the Equal Pay Act in Great Britain in 1971 or the law on equal wages passed in Italy in 1977.
But, as everyone knows, all
International Viewpoint 10 March 1986
SS=Semi-skilled per cent
S=Skilled
SS S SS
S women men
Paid according to output
Repetitive work
Table 1 percent
S
SS
SS women men
Payment depends on rhythm
-of work
Involving physical effort
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is rather illuminating on this point.
The idea that women should earn less or have a different place on the job market because they are not trained or have insufficient training should be rejected: "Women are not unskilled and semi-skilled because of inadequate training at school, but because they are well-trained in overall reproductive functions." If this were not the case, it would be impossible to explain why women direct themselves or are still directed toward "female" apprenticeships (in dressmaking, shorthand and typing) only to be taken later into electronies where their training is not recognised, but where they are preferred for certain posts requiring patience, endurance and attention to detail which are supposedly female qualities. Knit one - purl one
One Swiss boss cynically declared that women were much better than men at putting up with the conditions dictated by work with integrated circuits which demand perfect synchronisaton between the movements of the eyes, feet and arms, so as to observe the process on the screen. Why? Because from their childhood, women have been conditioned by work like knitting which is done in a mechanical way, without thinking ... knit one, pearl one ... This is almost a caricature of an analysis of women's oppression. But it also forms the basis of the bosses' policy. Even the method of calculating salaries takes into account the question of the sex of the workforce. We are familiar with bonuses paid on the basis of physical effort or responsibility. But when has an employer ever paid bonuses for monotony? You will not see the employer give up this advantage tomorrow; rather he will make out that women's fairy fingers are something innate and cannot be calculated in money terms.
The above shows that the traditional demands for equality "equal pay for equal work" for equal rights, correct though they are, are widely insufficient as a way of getting to the roots of the inequalities between men and women. In this sense, the struggles being waged by US and Canadian workers for unions to adopt policies of positive action in order to force open the doors of those higher paid and more highly skilled sectors previously closed to women, are of decisive importance, even though they may be more difficult to win in the context of the deepening crisis and unemployment. But it is also important to concen14 trate the fire on those sectors where the vast majority of women actually work - that is in the female-dominated
- and expose the mechanisms by which female attributes are underin comparison to male attributes, in calculating wages for example.
cannot be achieved without an explicit challenge to the role women are made to play and to the "catchsituation in which The labyrinth of domestic tasks
The double, even triple, role of wife, mother and worker is basically at the root of all the discrimination which women come up against. majority of women today consider the right to work as a gain. (5) Even who hate the jobs they do because they are repetitive or tiring insist on the importance to them of "working outside having contacts outside and of not being stuck inside all the time. But nonetheless, they carry on, rushing from the kitchen sink to the workplace and from the workplace to the kitchen sink in a desperate attempt demands of their bosses, their husbands and their children. more and getting less sleep the men, women are shopping whilst men are down the pub, they are washing or ironing while men are watching the telly and all this at a high cost to their nerves, health and most often their careers.
In this situation how can women time to read, to think or to be active in a trade union? In the last ten years the division of domestic tasks between men and women has only changed by a very small amount, even in a country like Sweden where other places.
with three children spends about 5 hours and 45 minutes a on domestic tasks while her husband spends one hour and 40
Paradoxically he tends spend more time where there are fewer children. Part-time work has not helped and it has even meant a step back in the division of tasks in and white-collar housholds. Where the man quite normal to "give a hand" around working full time, now he thinks he can put his feet up when he comes got the time".
when it comes to children. Even if many of the younger generation of women workers expect their companions to share a minimum of domestic chores, they always feel that being in charge of the children is their job. This internalising of their role as mothers comes out in the very great difficulty women have in challenging the traditional norms of the education of little girls who are supposed to have different qualities from their brothers. This results "naturally" in the fact that girls choose general channels of education whilst boys choose technical channels giving access to skilled jobs.
Furthermore the attacks of the ruling class on those institutions (nurseries, school canteens) which constitute the decisive element in freeing women from their domestic tasks and from traditional role, are particularly dramatic for women. Not only do they involve a deterioration in their daily lives, a decrease in what little time they had to spare but they have extremely negative subjective consequences since they challenge any idea of socialisaof education of very young children, and they strengthen patriarchal relations within the family. Divide and rule
In relation to this, statements by "progressive" sections of the bourgeoisie, who are favourable to a policy of women's equality seem particularly hollow and hypocritical. The existence of a too rigid
D. Kergoat, 'Les Ouvrieres, ed du Sycomore, Paris, 1982.
5. D. Kergoat, ibid. International Viewpoint 10 March 1986
* Lose tr have industry been temporarily
Such impose are to as a whole.
Women's 16-hour day (DR)
within the workforce can, division and "flexibility"
certain times, go against the interest of night work for men and women, a section of the bourgeoisie who will except in areas where it is socially therefore try to push women into jobs necessary.
traditionally held by men. This was
In the same way; we can see that it women
= ident the ruling began to secretarial and collective had bodies clerical jobs then
But this been corresponds, general, in either to highly went into the in new and they are on became obligatory of women entering as the job market.
developed, it working the cl
"fle:
name of areas such as irre ules, gular struggle against week-end work.
at work, within the successes, and in all aspects of social life.
has inhib any of the one impossible
Women are not going to give in
WO is the ban on night work for women.
to this without a fight and they have
Denmark,
In the directors shown this in the course of a series of
International Viewpoint 10 March 1986 related its consciousness interests.
continuity the of a future article.
or Danish strength the of their specific discuss can those on the workers' the who are
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